[The Cleaner]

Quick Review after the first couple hundred miles,

The car is amazingly fast and smooth. The engine power is very smooth and is a significant improvement over my only E46 325i.
Handling - Very impressive, the traction control is on an entirely new level than any previous BMW I have owned. The suspensions is firm but not uncomfortable. Steering is tight as expected and I love the thick steering-wheel.

IDrive - I have no idea how this system has gotten such a terrible reputation. The learning curve was about 2 hours to set up and get a feel for, after that it’s very intuitive and easy to use. I have not tried the Voice Commands yet so I cant comment. IMO IDrive is a must have and not at all deserving of it’s poor reputation.

Automatic transmission - First off lets put to bed the notion it’s not as fun as a manual. I have driven manuals for 25 years and the manual mode of this transmission is by far more fun that any manual I have driven. To start with you need to learn how to drive it in manual mode. You don’t just tap the paddle and go to the next gear, downshifts need to have a finesse to be smooth and upshifts require timing. Unlike a traditional manual you dont have to worry about grenading your engine on a mis-shift or wearing out your leg in hours of traffic. The engine feels very close to a manual when decelerating, it has plenty of engine feel. Similar to a manual going into first gear is best done at a stop, doing so at speed sometimes is abrupt and just does not feel right. DS or Sport Drive mode is like letting the computer shift for you in manual mode. D or Drive mode is the worst of the 3 choices especially form a stop. If you try to accelerate fast it tends to lurch, if you do a slow acceleration is smooth but is just automatic, not much of a thrill, but great for traffic.

Brakes - Are as expected and very powerful, I tried a few panic stops and the ABS is a very quick pulse and does not rattle the entire car like previous BMW’s I have owned.

[BMW F22]

verry niiice.

[addicted 2 turbo]

NICE COLOR COMBO

[j|rz44]

im with you.....
i love the auto trans. in manual mode!

Congrats

[Daya]

congrats! Great color combo, you and I have very similar interiors, except I have 6 spd

[m3rxn]

nice write up.

[ch330i]

I'm loving the coral red. Wish i could have it in the sedan.

[andy92782]

I notice that your car is an automatic and you've got the oil cooler (it's got the really big oil filter housing and the two hoses that run directly in front of the engine). Good deal and your car looks great!

Now BMW, about that oil cooler retrofit for my car...

[Doccommando]

Nice car!

It won't ever be as fun as the manual, though.

[E90330iS]

Great combination!

[Moderato]

Originally Posted by Doccommando

Nice car!

It won't ever be as fun as the manual, though.

Yeah, I agree. I'm not knocking the auto trans as it has it's merits, however I love rowing my own gears and massaging a clutch pedal. For me it's never work, it's always love, even in traffic. Nice car, if I couldn't have my E46 M3 for some reason I'd would get either and E92 335 or M3.